Brotherly Equation
by SignsOfSun
Summary: One Shot.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Brotherly Equation

Author: Signs Of Sun

Summary: One Shot (So long posted in two chapters). Sorry but that's all you're getting. Can't really say what you're getting with this one. May have warranted a warning but not willing to do that this particular time so if you're comfortable with that read away!

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_Brotherly Equation_

_Part I_

"Please tell me you brought it?" Charlie pleaded as his brother entered through the doorway of the house.

"Brought what?" Don inquired and closed the door behind him.

"No. No. No. I needed that to finish…I didn't have time…I can't….No. No. No." Charlie stammered stressfully as he moved hurriedly to the pile of work laid out on the dining room table. Don's right hand went to his forehead for a split second and then ran over his hair as an expression of realization washed over his face.

"Oh, buddy. I'm sorry. I forgot."

"I asked you to do one thing for me. You said you were on the way past here anyway. I can't believe you forgot." Charlie responded. His tone tainted with both hurt and irritation. But stress was most prominent. Work overload was having its effect.

"I did bring you something though," Don offered as he made his way from the door to the dining room.

"Oh yeah! What's that?"

Don reached inside the right pocket of his jacket and tugged out a small box. He placed it on the table and gave it a shove with his fingertips, forcing the box to slide the length of the table. The expansive stack of papers at the other end of the table halted it before it flew off onto the floor. Charlie stared down at the item for a moment before throwing a look in Don's direction. A smirk was growing on his brother's face as Charlie let out a noise midway between a sigh and a growl.

"You did that on purpose."

"Nothin' gets past you. How many equations did you go through in your head to figure that one out?" Don teased with a cocky nod of the head and a flash of a smile. Charlie scooped up the box into his grasp. He parted his lips as if he was about to speak, but no words arrived. He was so wound up from what he was working on and what Don had pulled the words had gotten all jumbled up before departing into the air. He ended up just shaking the box in his hand. The pieces of chalk inside rattled against one another

"Chalk crisis averted I take it!" Don stated.

"I can't believe you duped me." Charlie tossed back

"I'm your big brother. It's my job to not pass up an opportunity to mess with you."

"Here's an equation. Don as big brother equals Don as pain in the ass." The words came out as brotherly ribbing. Mostly.

"What no 'thanks for the rescue, Don'. No 'I'm glad I have connections with the FBI'. No 'thanks for having my back bro.'. You asked for chalk so I brought you chalk."

"I can't believe I fell for that. Why didn't I see that coming?" Charlie mumbled, more to himself than Don. He surely should have known by now how sneaky Don could be when in mischievous big brother mode.

"I'd say my work here is done then!" Don stated, shedding his coat and hanging it on the back of one of the chairs. He sauntered off into the kitchen, a pleased with himself grin plastered on his face.

"I was going to hold out longer on ya, but you seemed all key up. So I cut you some slack," he commented, returning with two mugs of coffee in hand. He took a sip from the one in his right hand and offered the one in his left to his brother. Charlie accepted it and glanced at the clock.

"Where did you buy chalk at this hour anyway? Where does one find school supplies at two in the morning? I didn't even think about the time when I called."

"I have my sources. Don't you worry about it!"

"Matter of national security huh?" Charlie inquired, jest drenching his tone.

"Need to know basis!" his brother retorted.

"I have my clearance back."

"My confidential sources will remain just that—_confidential_."

"You know you want to tell me. It's for a good cause!" Charlie rebutted.

"Yes. I see it now. Dozens of math equations will be saved."

"Perhaps some negotiation."

"Not gonna happen!" Don replied and took a long sip of his coffee. He walked into the living room, settled on the couch, and propped his legs up on the coffee table.

"Pain in the posterior!" Charlie commented, following behind him.

"Chalk junkie!"

"I can stop any time I want to!" Charlie stated firmly. To this Don let out a deep laugh, so entertained it verged on being a snort.

"Okay, maybe not so much. But if I'm a chalk junkie then you're enabling me. Bringing me chalk at two in the morning. Where did you buy chalk at this hour anyway?"

"Nice try." Don replied and let his head sink back into the softness of the couch at his back. Charlie intently studied him for a moment.

"What? I got schmutz on my face or something?" Don inquired, responded to the odd expression that had come over Charlie's face. He ran the palm of his free hand down over his face to reassure there was nothing there that shouldn't be.

"You look really beat bro."

"Long day. Longer night."

"Perhaps you should just crash here."

"I'll hang out for a few. Then I think I'll head out."

"I should have made the coffee stronger."

"Trust me, Charlie, this coffee is plenty strong enough. Just how many scoops did you put in here?" Don inquired, looking down into his cup rather suspiciously.

"I don't recall. I made the coffee with one hand and was working an equation with the other."

"If you're making coffee with one hand and doing math with the other in the middle of the night you need to take a break."

"Can't. Too many projects that need my attention," Charlie protested after a sip from his coffee mug. He then took a seat at the other end of the couch.

"Well, your health needs some attention too. You're going to run yourself into the ground."

"This coming from you."

"All I'm saying is the math will be there in the morning. The bad guys aren't courteous enough to hang around while I get some shut eye."

"A valid point, however, I propose that although the math will be there in the morning my same thought process may not be open. So I have to work when the line of thought presents itself."

"Well, you promise me you'll get some rest when the thought process closes up shop, okay, buddy."

"Scouts honor." Charlie replied. Don rolled his head to the right and raised his eyebrows at his brother.

"What?"

"I don't think you can swear on Boy Scouts honor unless you were actually a Boy Scout."

"Mathematicians honor?" Charlie suggested hopefully. If nothing more it made his brother smile.

"Yeah I'll buy that."

"Phew! Cuz that's all I had."

"So when I came in you seemed kind of wound about something. What's going on?"

"I'm helping Larry with a project. I keep hitting a dead end and having to turn around and retrace my steps. And Amita needed some calculations. She was asked to speak at a conference and I want to make sure its solid math before she presents. Then there's this grad student who has great potential but needs a little polishing. My publisher keeps calling hoping I have a piece close to ready. Something about not wanting too much time to go by between pieces. Then…"

'Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Charlie you have all that going on at once?"

"Yeah why?"

"Because it explains why you looked like you were about to spin off into outer space when I came in here. You need to give yourself a break."

"I can't. Larry, Amita, my publisher, my students they are all counting on me."

"They all understand that you have other things going on. Last time I checked math geniuses were human too and needed to rest once in a while," Don responded and straightened up in his seat a little. A reflective beat passed before Charlie finally confided his feelings.

"It's just they're counting on me and I don't want to let them down. There's just more work then minutes in the day. I wish I could do more."

"Charlie, it's great you are so generous with your abilities and wholeheartedly want to give it your all But they'll understand if you tell them you need to step back, even if it's just one day off. At least if they care about your well being they will. And if they don't then…well…" Don offered in a now softer voice.

"If they don't then what?"

"If they don't then they'll get a little visit from me, that's what!"

"Really?"

"Oh you can count on it. I'll tell that publisher where he can put his publishing!" Don commented jokingly. A boyish smile tugged at Charlie's lips and he let out a soft chuckle. He would argue up and down that he could take care of himself just fine, but there was something about when Don stuck up for him. Something deep inside that fulfilled a little brother's need to know that his brother cared enough about him that he would race off to kick somebody's ass. He was suddenly glad that Don was his big brother and not the brother of someone he had pissed off. He doubted it would have been a pleasant experience. He was extremely lucky to be on this side of that equation.

"Refill?" Don's voice asked from above him. The sound drew him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? What?"

"Your coffee. Do you need a refill?" Don asked. Charlie looked up at him and wondered when Don had gotten up off the couch. He must have wandered off into thought deeper than he realized.

"Oh no. I'm still working my way to the bottom."

"Oh yeah? I reached bottom hours ago! And I don't mean the coffee!" Don called back as he headed off into the kitchen. Charlie took a lingering sip of his coffee which was significantly cooler than the last time he had taken one. Don reappeared, fresh cup in hand. But he didn't return to his seat on the couch. Instead he began to wander the room, glancing out the window, studying a photo on the shelf, and peeking at Charlie's work on the table.

"So what about you?" Charlie asked.

"What about me?"

"What had you out so late? Hot date?" Charlie suggested, teasing in his voice.

"If it was a hot date would I be here hanging out with my brother?"

"Statistically unlikely."

"You better believe statistically unlikely!" Don responded and meandering towards the next room. Charlie drank down the last gulp of coffee and set the mug down on the table. He stood up and stretched out a kink or two as his brother made his way into the next room. Charlie was pulled to trail after him. He found Don steadily working his way towards the bottom of the second cup of coffee.

"Drink anymore of that coffee and you won't be able to close your eyes for the next three days."

"At this point I think I might be able to sleep with my eyes open for the next three days."

"You never answered my question."

'Which one was that?"

"What had you out so late? You were still at work when I called. New case?"

"Nothing so exciting. Unless, of course, you call a mountain of paperwork an exciting evening," Don replied. Charlie took note that his brother had ceased his wandering. They had arrived a few feet short of standing beside the piano.

"Are you looking for something?"

"What do you mean?" Don asked back.

"It's just you're wandering the house like you're looking for something in particular."

"It sort of felt that way when I was walking around but I got in here and it felt like whatever it was is in here." Don's gaze drifted around the objects in the room but the only thing that drew his attention for more than a fleeting glance was the piano. So he set his coffee on the table by the window and slid onto the seat of the piano bench. Charlie watched his brother looked longingly at the keys.

"Dad's asleep huh?" Don inquired without turning his attention from the piano.

"Yes. Many hours ago." Don's head bobbed his understanding in reply and the two were quiet for a moment. Don lifted his left hand to the cool surface of the keys and just barely skimmed them over middle C then along the next several. The feather light touch created no sound. But Charlie could tell that Don wanted to play something. It was a rare moment to find Don seated there and Charlie suddenly wished his father was awake so his brother could feel free to play.

"Having piano lesson flashbacks?" Charlie teased.

"I don't know. Something just drew me over here. Anyway, I probably should head out!" Don replied and stood up from the piano. It seemed to Charlie as if his brother hadn't gotten up right then he would have been compelled to play. So to avoid awakening there father he had removed himself from the temptation.

"You're welcome to stay here."

"And be subjected to more of that substance you call coffee?" Don called out as he headed to the dining room and scooped up his coat. He slipped it on and moved to the doorway.

"You're right that would be cruel, wouldn't it?" Charlie conceded as he trailed behind his brother.

"Alright! Well I'm on my way!" Don stated as he opened the door.

"Drive safe!" Charlie responded and headed towards the pile of papers on the table. Don caught him headed there and called after him.

"Oh and hey, Charlie!"

"Yeah." Charlie said, looking across the room to his brother.

"You were a huge help on that last case. Couldn't have done it without you."

"No problem. Thanks for having my back. You know with offering to kick some ass if I needed you too."

"Just say the word, bro, and I'm all over it. You get some rest now. Remember you promised. Mathematician's Honor."

"You too, Don. Don't be a stranger, okay?"

"I'll see what I can do."

"Goodnight!"

"Night. Remember to take care of yourself or I might have to pay some visits round town." Don called back as he left the house. Charlie heard the door clicked closed and he looked down at the enormous stack of papers spread out before him. They begged his attention but he had promised Don so instead he grabbed a blanket and pillow from the closest and clicked the lights off. In the darkness he made his way to the couch and settled in.

_To Be Continued…_


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Brotherly Equation

Author: Signs Of Sun

Summary: One Shot. Sorry but that's all you're getting. Can't really say what you're getting with this one.

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_Brotherly Equation_

_Part II_

Charlie tucked his chin more snuggly into his chest and tugged the pillow in closer with his fingertips. The cozy cocoon of sleep still wrapped its healing hands around him. He might be a genius but his brother was clearly brilliant. This resting concept was nothing sort of amazing. This lazy thought strolled through his mind as the little clock on the wall softly chimed five o'clock. It signified that he had only been asleep for a few hours curled up on the couch but his body was grateful already. Five o'clock? He could take advantage of a couple more hours, right? He had promised on his Mathematician's Honor after all.

Maybe he would call in and have a teaching assistant leave notice his classes were cancelled for the day. Could he really afford to indulge that temptation? As his responsibilities poked at him to answer that question in the negative, he burrowed deeper under the blanket. This escape attempt was derailed by a noise from outside his cocoon. He listened for a moment and finally when enough alertness filtered back to him he recognized it as a knock. He fumbled to sit up as he discovered he had become tangled in the blanket. Finally after a few seconds of clumsy half awake struggle he managed to free himself.

He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and shuffled towards the door Whoever was calling at the early hour was going to get a visit from his big brother he commented in his head as he took a peek out to see who was there. When he saw the two people standing outside his hand stalled in opening the door for a slowed heartbeat. A small stream of hope that he was still asleep over on the couch trickled though him. If he opened the door and they were vanished then it was nothing more than a dream.

His hand finally shifted back into motion and he cracked the door open halfway. All hope abandoned him at finding David and Colby standing on the front steps. They didn't even need to speak because the tale their hearts told was etched in their saddened expressions and tortured eyes.

"No." That was the sole word that managed to escape Charlie's lips.

"I'm so sorry. He's gone," David whispered, his own devastation creating static under the words. Charlie wanted to argue that there had been some mistake. He wanted to tell them to go back and double check. They had missed something. He wanted to insist there was time to change this outcome. But the two agents, the two men that had become friends, were evidence that all those avenues were futile. His brother was dead.

"Charlie, why don't we go inside?" Colby quietly suggested and took a step closer to the open doorway. Charlie just looked at him with a bewildered expression. He had heard the words but he couldn't understand why they made no sense. Colby seem to know this and loosely guided him to turn around and propelled him to start back inside. The two agents tailed him.

"Charlie! Everything alright? I heard a noise!" the eldest Eppes called over to his son as he made it down the last step of the stairwell. The baseball bat in Alan's grasp lowered the instant Colby and David appeared over the threshold into the house. And for him too no verbal message was necessary. Simply their presence there so early could mean no other thing. His elder son was gone from this world. No doubt taken by the work he had made his life. He lowered himself to sit on the bottom step and laid the baseball bat in his lap. If Charlie's expression had been bewilderment his father's was one of breathlessness.

David quietly clicked the door closed behind him as Charlie made sluggish progress towards the stairwell. Once he arrived he took a seat at his father's side, pulled the blanket in more closely around his body, and stared at the floor.

A long silence fell over the four men, father and son seated together in their devastation on stairs and the two partners stalled in their sadness at the doorway. It was finally disturbed by Charlie rising from the spot at his father's side. He moved towards the other room. He could feel David and Colby's gazes follow him, but perhaps sensing his purposeful movement stayed behind. He headed towards the piano first. Once there he looked to the little table that stood near the window. It held nothing but a lamp. Next his footsteps traveled back to the dining room and his gaze scanned the top of the table there. He found nothing but piles of papers there. He let out a saddened sigh. The absence of Don's coffee mug on the table by the piano and the lack of any chalk on the dining room table could only lead to one conclusion. It had been a dream. His brother had never really arrived.

Charlie tucked his chin down into the blanket and shuffled a return trip to his station beside his father.

"I need to know what happened to my son," Alan's voice asked. The unsteady whisper the words arrived in told of the tears that would soon water his eyes.

As daylight crept its way throughout the house the story was told. On the way to Charlie's house from the office Don had rerouted in response to a call for back up. David, Colby, and a group of other agents had been at the scene of the execution of a night arrest warrant turned hostage situation. The standoff had gone from bad to worse to downright desperate. Against procedure Don had exchanged himself for a badly injured and very young hostage. A firefight had erupted and Don ended up shot three times by one of the hostage takers when he tried to fight for the remaining innocents. A long string of minutes later the bad guys lost the battle and Don lost his life.

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Charlie returned the jug of orange juice to its place inside the refrigerator. As he closed the door the mini calendar hanging on the outside of it caught his eye. Sixteen days. Sixteen days had come and gone since his brother had been lost. The number seemed too small for how long the time had felt to have lived through and the number seemed too large for a moment that still felt so raw. A knock on the door tore him from the dilemma and he went to answer it. Looking out he found the same two men standing on his doorstep that had been there that night sixteen days prior. This time though his hand did not hesitate opening the door and he greeted them with a warm welcome.

"Come on in!" he offered, gesturing for them to make their way into the living room.

"How you holding up?" David asked as Charlie shut the door and joined them standing near the couch.

"Has it really been sixteen days?" Charlie inquired as a response.

"Doesn't seem right, does it?" Colby answered.

"No. But I can't decide if it should be more or less."

"One is too many," David commented softly. To this Charlie nodded in agreement and swallowed down hard. Colby offered distraction.

"Somehow I think this was intended for you," Colby stated and held out a small brown paper bag.

"It was a bit of a fight to get it released from evidence but, ultimately, it wasn't linked in any way to the crime so I managed to get it for you," he added when Charlie finally took the bag after a second of hesitancy.

"What's this?"

"Don had it with him you know when..." Colby's voice trailed off into nothingness before the thought was complete. Charlie unfolded the top of the bag and looked inside. An odd question departed his lips in reaction.

"Where?"

"Where what?" Colby asked, shrugging.

"You said Don had it with him. Where was it?"

"In his jacket pocket I believe. We found the jacket on the front seat in his truck. Why?"

"The right or the left pocket?" Charlie asked, ignoring the agent's question.

"I don't recall. Are you alright Charlie?"

"Just tell me if it was in the right or the left!" Charlie snapped out in frustration. It wasn't what he had intended, but emotion had gotten the better of him. Colby seemed to understand and let it roll off him.

"It would be there written on the bag," David threw out in suggestion. Charlie looked down at the outside of the paper bag. When he found nothing on the side facing him he turned it around and found writing there. His gaze scanned down until it landed upon the line that was for the location found. _Right front jacket pocket._

Everything and everyone else in the room faded off into some peripheral world, some place beyond the haze that engulfed Charlie. That night had his mind just created the scenario knowing that he had asked Don to bring him the chalk and combined it with the fact that his brother was right handed? Had his brain taken that information and when he had fallen asleep on the couch formulated it into a dream? That led his thought process to another unknown variable.

"Charlie, man, you alright?" David asked as Charlie tuned back into his surrounds.

"I never asked. What time… What time did Don…?"

"Right around two am," David informed him, not needing to hear the full question to know he was asking about Don's time of death. Charlie's mind skimmed through the conversation he had with brother inside the dream. It had been so vivid that every word seemed engraved into him. They latched onto the ones he sought.

"_Where did you buy chalk at this hour anyway? Where does one find school supplies at two in the morning? I didn't even think about the time when I asked."_

"_I have my sources. Don't you worry about it!"_

Charlie was silent for a moment longer. He was a man of science. How could his mind seriously be considering what his heart was proposing?

"When he passed, did he….go right away?"

"Charlie, don't torture yourself like this," Colby offered.

"No I want to know."

"You're sure?"

"It's important to me."

"Positive?" David asked softly, but the reluctance was obvious in his voice.

"Please!" Charlie pleaded, glancing from David to Colby and back again. David was the one who gave him the answer.

"He was with us for a few minutes afterward. But he wasn't connected with what was going on. Not really feeling anything."

"He was out of it, Charlie. Like David said he wasn't suffering," Colby added with a reassuring confidence.

"In between," Charlie mumbled. Could this really be the case? Had his brother been dying at the same time he had fallen asleep and dreamt of his visit?

"We apologize, Charlie. We just thought it was fitting that Don had the chalk in his pocket. We didn't mean to upset you," Colby apologized.

"No. No. Not at all. It's just…it's just that night I called him and asked if he would be coming by the house. I had completely run out of chalk. I mean I had the dry erase boards but sometimes certain things demand to be done in chalk. He said he was leaving the office right then and would see what he could do."

"So that was like emergency relief chalk?" Colby proposed with sarcastic smile.

"Chalk famine relief. Now there's a cause you don't see very often," David tossed in. The words brought warm smiles all around the trio.

"Only Don!" David continued after a beat.

"That's what…well…what made him…Don," Colby added. Charlie's voice followed right after it.

"No. That's what made him the best brother ever!" Charlie concluded. His voice was gentle in volume but strong in love and pride.

"Listen, Charlie, if you ever need anything we're only a phone call away. He never had to say it aloud but it was crystal clear that looking out for you was an unbreakable rule if anything ever happened to him. We'd like to do that for him," David offered. It was followed by Colby's thoughts.

"I'm not entirely sure he's not still watching. Cuz I swear I heard his voice tell me to fix that report I had on my desk this morning. So anything you need, day or night, let us know."

"He did say that last time I talked with him that if anyone messed with me he would pay them a little visit. So I guess you two should hop too," Charlie responded, a teasing expression filling his features.

"I guess we'd better not screw up then!" David answered back.

"I really appreciate you bringing this to me. It means more than you might think."

"Glad to hear it!" Colby stated.

"You guys caught any new cases? Need any math?"

"Not right at the moment."

"Promise to let me know?"

"Absolutely!"

"Thanks so much for stopping by. Remember you're always welcome here."

"Well, in that case, next time you fire up that grill give me a call. I'm sure I could squeeze in the time to swing by," Colby teased.

"Why does this not surprise me? There's barbeque and suddenly Colby's social calendar is wide open," his partner commented.

"What? I was just being neighborly!"

"You were just being hungry. Not two hours ago you were wolfing down a double order of the lumberjack special. Now you've got Charlie here firing up the grill." Before Colby could pose a defense Charlie piped in.

"Actually you know what! That's not a bad idea. Why don't you guys come over this evening? Perhaps see if you can bring Liz and Robin."

"Are you sure you're up to that?" David asked.

"Don gifted me many things--his advice, his protectiveness, even chalk--but there's one thing he never realized he gave me."

'What's that?

"Friends who I can share the memory of him with."

"Barbeque it is then."

'Excellent! See you guys around seven?"

"You can count on it!" Colby replied and with that he and David headed out the door. Charlie stood in the living room at the window for a moment, watching them climb into a Bureau vehicle and pull away. Once they had driven out of sight Charlie wandered out of the house and off to the garage.

He settled into a chair and opened the paper bag. After a long inhale he reached in and pulled out the box of chalk. Discarding the bag onto the floor he held the box up in front of him with both hands and focused intently on the cover art. The design and writing there were simple and generic. To any other set of eyes it was nothing more than chalk. To Charlie this was no ordinary box. It was so much more, something that transcended being a material object. It was a connection. It was the thread that, though frayed, tied his mathematical destiny to his brotherhood with Don.

Letting out the breath he had been holding captive inside Charlie closed his eyes. Science and math did not support the thoughts that came with holding that box of chalk in his grasp. But he could not deny their existence either. The answer eluded him time and time again. Was it possible for a box of chalk to hold other properties beyond the physical materials that constructed it? He did not know at that moment in the garage surrounded by his math and silence.

He was certain though that the chalk would not serve any ordinary task.

The time would come when it would accompany him in some greater purpose. It would be in his grasp in the brightest shining moment in his mathematical journey. A moment that he would not travel alone into because Don would be there enabling his accomplishment.

The equation would be between brothers just as the journey towards its creation had been.

_The End_


End file.
